Waco Police ‘Not Properly Trained’ to Determine Probable Cause

Waco Police ‘Not Properly Trained’ to Determine Probable Cause

Summary: recently spoke at a press conference about the arrest of Matthew Clendennen, after filing a federal civil rights lawsuit on his behalf.

Hewitt, Texas - A federal civil rights lawsuit has been filed against the City of Waco, arresting police officers, and others linked to the arrest of 177 bikers in Waco, Texas on May 17, 2015. One of the individuals taken into custody, Matthew Alan Clendennen, recently brought forth the suit following his arrest, asserting he was not a participant in the fighting that broke out in the parking lot of the Twin Peaks restaurant. Clendennen, who is a member of the Scimitars Bike Club and operates a landscaping business, says he spent two weeks at the Jack Harwell Detention Center, not knowing why he had been detained.

According to Clendennen he heard the commotion and subsequently left the patio to take cover on the inside of the restaurant before being included in the broad police sweep. The biker is a graduate of Baylor University and former firefighter.

Clendennen is represented by Dallas based criminal lawyer Clint Broden of Broden Mickelsen Helms & Snipes. Broden recently spoke about his client’s case at a press conference in Hewitt, stating he has filed a complaint against justice of the Pete Peterson in addition to a request with the Justice Department to determine whether civil rights violations occurred in the mass arrests. The attorney also said he intends to add Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman to the list of those named in the complaint.

“It is obvious from his statements that the Waco police – and he leads the Waco police – are not properly trained to determine what probable cause is… The fact that he is still unapologetic for what happened gives some indication that the policy makers in the city of Waco have a long way to go in training their police officers properly,” Broden said during the emotional press conference.

Some of the bikers arrested remain in jail. Multiple attorneys were present at the press conference on behalf of their clients, both in and out of custody.

Broden’s partner Michael Snipes also stated of the arrest warrants issued in the cases, “That is the only thing that is individualized on these warrants in these cases, was the names of the various defendants. The rest of the probable cause is exactly the same.”

The federal lawsuit says:

It was the policy of the City of Waco, as decided and approved by their policymakers, to cause the arrest and detention of numerous individuals belonging to motorcycle clubs who were in or around the Twin Peaks restaurant at the time of the incident, regardless of whether or not there was individualized probable cause to arrest and detain a particular individual and to do so based on “fill in the name” complaints without individualized facts. This policy was carried out repeatedly, and as a result, over 170 people were arrested and detained, with each one of those persons given the identical $1 million bond, with no regard to their individual situation.